Ahh. Yesterday afternoon was pretty perfect. (There’s that word again!)
The weather was really just about as good as it gets. Splitter blue sky, warm sunshine with a hint of chill, trees putting on a show. Ideal for playing ball on the new grass with Cholula, enjoying a farm-fresh salad for lunch, and hunting for a few pumpkins!
Pumpkin patch confession: I have a soft spot for the less-than-perfect pumpkins. You know, the ones that have an odd shape or a blemish on one side or have a weird color or have lost their stem. Everyone wants the perfect ones! But it’s the ones with flaws that draw me. I’ll find something good in the lopsided ones, the ones pretty from just one side. Those are the ones I take home. They need the most love.Â
The other day, John picked up some local Morgan Valley ground lamb when we were at the Farmers Market. You might remember the juicy lamb sliders we made a few months ago- Holy deliciousness, Batman!
(That’s Cholula’s odd Halloween monkey-batman thing. She loves it because it’s weird.)
As I continued to festive-ize the house a tad, John got started on the burger-ettes.
There’s an uber-warty pumpkin on the left side of the fireplace. He’s my very favorite. And yes, it’s cold enough to have the fireplace going- in the 20s or below recently at night!
I’m going to quote straight from the first post about the lamburgers (love that word):
“For the mini-burgers, John combined ground lamb, chopped fresh mint, chopped fresh cilantro, chopped garlic, dried oregano, Worcestershire sauce, an egg, some breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, and LOVE. (His words.)Â For the sauce, I mixed together plain Greek yogurt, dried dill, garlic salt, pepper, quartered cherry tomatoes, and lemon juice. You’ll have to wing it on the amounts, because that’s what we did. But the result was delectable.”
I think John added some chopped jalapeno into this batch, but the rest was basically the same. We found the challah slider buns at Whole Foods and popped some fingerling potatoes in the oven with chopped garlic and onion, too. The house started to smell scrumptious!
I’m not sure I could describe the difference between a burger made with beef and one with lamb. Lamb seems to be more moist. The flavors of the extra yummy stuff that John adds into the lamb really come through- and I bet would be quite tasty in any kind of burger- beef, turkey.
Guys, take a look at these little nuggets:
As we happily munched on our mini-burgers, John and I realized that with the exception of the buns, everything on our plates came from within 30 miles or so- the lamb, potatoes, onion, garlic, tomatoes, greens, herbs. I LOVE THAT.Â
And I LOVE my warty little pumpkin. Happy fall!
the usual bliss 
Ha, I love the ugly pumpkins too! They have personality and pizzaz!
Ahh! Fall (or winter)! Love it 🙂
Your love for the little, misshapen pumpkins reminds me a whole lot of The Littlest Christmas Tree. I feel love for these holiday misfits, too, but I think it’s mostly due to my constant, overwhelming sense of guilt and an empathy button that works far too well (but what if they aren’t purchased and forgotten forever?!)
I totally feel the same for the little trees! I want to take them all home!
What cute and festive little pumpkins. I’m glad you like the misshapen ones! They all need love 😉
They do! I picked up some more misfits today!
Liking the oddly shaped pumpkins….that’s so hipster haha. But seriously, your house B-E-A-utiful [imagine Jim Carrey saying it] you should submit it to better homes and garden [or maybe to dreamy homes and kitchens] Did you guys designed it?
PS. loooove Cholula 🙂
Haha, you know me- HIPSTER. (I can’t even write that without laughing because I might be the opposite!) Think I might do a ‘Home’ series on the blog with a photo here and there (when it’s clean!) It’s Cholula’s birthday on Thursday!
Ohhh!!! get her some peanut butter-oatmeal treats! [and many many pictures too :)]
I always buy the ugliest pumpkins (I’m the same way with Christmas trees. I’m afraid no one but me could love them enough). We had a porch full of the warty ones last year but to carve them???!! We seriously had to use a dremel tool. Not even joking. Your home looks incredible warm and cozy and I might have to borrow your lamb slider recipe. Please and thank you. I actually wanted to drop you a quick line to let you know that i moved the hosting for Sugar Dish Me so it won’t appear in your wp.com reader anymore, but the address is still the same http://www.sugardishme.com/ and I’d be so super happy if you’d re-subscribe through email or rss feed. Your blog is full of happy things! So excuse me while I cxomntinue to read 🙂
I thought about that with the warty pumpkin. I don’t think I’ll carve that one! He can just hang out and be king of the other pumpkins. Please borrow the lamb slider recipe- it’s SO good!! Oh, and I just resubscribed via email to Sugar Dish Me.
Thanks for reading!
Happy Fall! What a delicious season…
Bless those warty pumpkins. I always pick the ugly ones too! I kinda feel sorry for them, like everyone else is overlooking them and I don’t want them to have a complex. My kids have picked up on this as well whenever we go to the pumpkin patch to choose our Halloween pumpkins. Only the really UGLY ones make it into our house. Too cute.
I love how many readers have said they do the same thing- reach out for the ugly pumpkins or scraggly Christmas trees! Big hearts!